Bloom is an effect in real photography where light interacts with bright surfaces and creating a Glowing Effect around that surface.
Its a simple, but incredible effect that Softens Harsh Edges and Vitalizes your work.

Before some point in time, I used to think that SFM bloom was quite good:
- It makes the artwork Glowy
- Softens edges
- Takes away some Imperfections

However, after uploading a particular artwork (that i will use as an example shortly), some more experienced SFMers and users of Photoshop have roasted me brutally commented about it on Bloom alone.

After some consideration and research, i have officially converted.


Here's an example:
Without Bloom


BTW, if you like the background, i made a workshop for it that is free for use:
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2128966300

Looks pretty damn good, but...
The artwork is meant to look S t e a m y, but the sharpness of the edges and outlines really gets in the way, as well as other artifacts. Note there are PLENTY of imperfections left untouched by any Image editing software.(And you dont notice them, cus you're transfixed by the illegal looks of the mercenaries)

• Spy: You could see the clothing clipping through the hands and revolver (my mistake). And the tie is, for some reason, not entirely red and has pixels of white invading the edges (And this guy wears expensive clothing apparently.)
  
  
• Femscout: This femscout is actually made of 2 different models: 1 for the main body, 1 for the head (from a NSFW model), and you could actually see the outline of the neck (Now you're immensely bothered by that are you?). The chest are like polygons and rimlight is off.
  
  
• Sniper: Probs the best looking model there. Just those weird jagged pink lighting on his shoulder
  
  
• Neon Beams: Looks kinda flat, Could look alot more glowy

Now we have a look at:
SFM bloom



Just by leaving the bloom slider on default, the art looks much more vibrant. And some of the listed imperfections are STILL there, now that i already let you now about them earlier. Bloom cant fully eliminate imperfections, but makes them less noticeable.

But instead of fixing some issues, it introduced new ones.



As seen on the spy, the glow just engulfs the tie and the hand holding the revolver. Its just simply too bright.

And not just limited to Femscout's hat, the thickness is too think and too blatant. Adjusting the slider cannot fix this much, no matter how low you put it.

Its about time I introduce you to Photopea.

On my search for finding a free suitable Photoshop alternative, i have come across Photopea.

Why should you use it?

• You dont have 300 bucks lying around
  
• You are too good person to simply pirate the software
  
• You want to expand your Image editing skills
  
• You can follow/translate most regular photoshop tutorials here
  
• NO Watermark
  
• NO Signup Necessary

It's really that amazing. The only downside i see is that it needs internet and may not have all the tools from the original.
I have yet to test this without internet, nor i have used the original PS, nor watched too many tutorials, so dont quote me on that.
Check it out now
https://www.photopea.com/

ALSO, there may be a few issues using this depending on what browser you use.
Check out Common Mistakes for more info

Let's get into it!




Go get your Artwork
Make sure your artworks has NO BLOOM



Should get something like this
Make sure you fix those imperfections first before applying bloom.



Go ahead and Duplicate the image.
The idea here, is to put a layer of glow on top of your artwork




Visit the Image Tab and Adjustments to Retrograde the image and enhance the Contrast. (Ensure the Layer 1 is selected by clicking on it)




We need to highlight the bright areas in order to apply bloom to it.
To capture the bright areas, go to Channels on right hand side.

CTRL + L-CLICK the RGB Channel
(Click on the tiny image, not the box or the text)

Dotted outlines should appear around the bright regions.



Delete the Black & White Layer.

While the regions are still highlighted, copy and paste the regions using
CTRL + C and CTRL +V



You should get these cut outs
(Click on the eye of the layers to see or unsee layers)





Now for the fun part!

Select the Copied Layer and apply Gaussian Blur.
Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur
Try to adjust it to the point it looks more than enough but doesn't fade out too much, we can minimize it later. (I usually use a value around 20)




Starting to look good, but too blurry.
Adjust the strength by scaling the the Opacity slide



Export, and DONE!
You've Applied Bloom!


Original:

The method is pretty effective when the image already has a strong color contrast (Bright entities with a black background and smoke)

But sometimes, you may want to be more Selective with your Bloom regions.
And you may produce a pretty bright artwork as shown:



Even with the Retrograde and Contrast, the background still makes it in the White club.



If we leave it as it is, we are pretty much applying the Bloom on the entirety of the artwork and its just going to result an even brighter, more blurry piece of work.
Personally, i'd leave it alone.
But you still want to imbue even more life and apply more softness to it, we can banish the background to the shadow realm using "Curves".



Using this pathway Image > Adjustments > Curves, we bring up the graph editor.

L-CLICK + DRAG along the bottom of the graph to further enhance the contrast.
Decide what regions you want to Bloom out.
For instance i want to keep Medic's Forehead and his Bird, while getting rid of the background. White is just inevitable.




Once that is done, repeat the steps and DONE!

Gaussian Blur - Radius Size

Here's our Sample artwork:




You cant really go too wrong with a Lower radius:



The Aim of bloom is to just Bounce Off the Surface, not totally cloud the main and surrounding details. Even when adjusting the opacity slide, it will disappear to near nothingness.





Black & White Contrast

In most cases, applying bloom with the white regions taking up most of the artwork takes away the magic of bloom.

Its like dosing a frosted doughnut with a mountain of sprinkles (I dont think i wanna eat that).
But then again, i wouldn't want to a donut with just 5 pieces of colored sugar on top. (Maybe more preferable)

Its all about finding that Balance

Hence why it is recommended to ultilise the Curves Tool

Let's have a look at this:




Too Little White regions captured = Pretty much no effect at all



Barely noticeable on the bomb clock, Medic's shoulder, Spy's shirt, Ammo box, etc
(Click on the images for a closer look)


Too Much White regions captures = Its Like Dreamworld



(Actually, it might be something you are going for, depending on the artwork.)


Balanced = A pleasing and more realistic piece of work

I want:
Some glow coming from the characters (Mainly the shirts acting as the source)
A bit of the ground and the rock shards
Clouds
A hint of the sky, glowing on the edge of the ground



General use of Photopea

If you began exploring Photopea, you may come to the discovery of shortcuts.
Shortcuts that switch modes and behaviour of tools and generally make the image editing process much faster with practise. A popular one being the Undo (Ctrl + z).

Those shortcuts make use of the Ctrl, Alt and Shift Keys.

WARNING:
After some practise, realising some issues and researching, I realise there is a bug in certain browsers, where pressing those keys will cause inconsistencies with tools.

Problems including:

• Changing the behaviour of tools randomly
  
• Doing the opposite of the tools' intended use (eg. dodge <--> burn, vice versa)
  
• Changing selection patterns

These browsers include Safari, Firefox (and maybe some others). Having certain extensions can also interfere with the functionality of Photopea.

To fix this:

• Use Photopea on Google Chrome in Incognito Mode
  
• Have your own Photoshop (or download a cracked version)

This marks my first ever guide made and i hope i have helped most of you. After learning this method of bloom, i just felt inclined to share this out to those that see it.

I've actually skimmed some of the other SFM bloom tutorials, cus at that time i didnt have PS and yet to read it properly (Probs has a much more effective and faster way to apply bloom)

Suggestions? Improvements? Issues?
Leave them in the Comments below.